The indictment highlighted the heightened threat posed by hostile international actors — Iran, Russia and China chief among them — who hope to disrupt the U.S. election.
Listen to this article · 3:57 min Learn more
- Share full article
The material stolen from the Trump campaign was sent to journalists at The New York Times and other outlets but was not widely published.
A federal grand jury in Washington has indicted three members of a cyberespionage unit associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps for mounting a wide-ranging attack targeting politicians, officials and journalists that led to the hacking of the Trump campaign.
The Iranians unleashed a barrage of malicious emails to a wide array of targets in recent years, but in 2024 began focusing on undermining former President Donald J. Trump, whom they regard as their most implacable enemy, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.
The attacks were “part of Iran’s continuing efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the U.S. electoral process and unlawfully acquire information related to former and current U.S. officials,” prosecutors wrote.
The indictment, while expected, highlighted the heightened threat posed by hostile international actors — Iran, Russia and China chief among them — using cyberattacks in hopes of disrupting the U.S. election and intimidating domestic dissidents abroad.
The hackers — Masoud Jalili, Seeyed Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi — are all living in Iran and are not likely to ever face justice in an American courtroom. They have been charged with wire fraud, identity theft, providing material support to a terrorist organization and a variety of cybercrimes.
From 2020 to May 2024, the three men, all experienced computer experts, targeted dozens of current and former officials at the White House, National Security Council, Defense Department, and other agencies “apparently without success,” according to the 37-page indictment.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Source: nytimes.com
